Agriculture scientists of the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) have given emphasis on the need for promoting short duration crops like cowpea as it can be sown singly between the gap of two main crops or as an intercrop with other crops like maize, sugarcane, to name a few.
There are different varieties of cowpea which can be a boon for hilly region of Uttarakhand, maintained the experts of the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar.
The short-duration cowpea is a useful crop which gives two to three crops within a year between February and October and fits well in multiple systems, said Dr. Mangala Rai, Vice-chancellor of the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, after visit of the Breeder Seed Production Centre (BSPC) in the university campus in Pantnagar where field trials of different varies of cowpea are presently going on.
The agri produce, cowpea, can be sown singly between the gap of two main crops or as an intercrop with other crops like maize, sugarcane.
More so, it is a dual-purpose crop whose pods can be used as vegetable and grain as dal or processed in different nutritious products which are rich in zinc, iron and some other nutrients, further said Rai.
He has also announced that some villages in hills will be selected for seed production of cowpea under 'seed village' programme of Krishi Vigyan Kendras which will help in making the seed available to large number of farmers of the region. Crop of cowpea also helps in improving fertility of soil as Rhizobium bacteria present in its root nodules fix nitrogen of the environment in the soil, he added.
The vice-chancellor also appreciated efforts of the scientists of this university for introducing cowpea as additional crop in various cropping system and thus, increasing the availability of much needed pulses which we import in large quantity.
The field trials of cowpea are being conducted at the Breeder Seed Production Centre (BSPC) of the GBPUAT campus under the supervision of Dr. B.B. Singh, visiting professor and senior scientist.